The second and concluding day of the opposition unity meeting in Bengaluru was held, with 26 like-minded parties closing ranks with a common aim of taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the next year’s Lok Sabha polls.
DK Shivakumar, the deputy chief minister of Karnataka, described the gathering as the “voice of India” with great strength after it concluded.
“Today’s meeting was the voice of India…There is a lot of strength in it and all the opposition parties want to save India,” Shivakumar said. All 26 parties that attended the meet convened by Congress, decided to name the Opposition alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance).
“Earlier, we were UPA and now all the 26 parties have given a name to the opposition and that is – Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Everybody has agreed upon this, and the resolution for the name was passed unanimously,” Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Meanwhile, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee dared the NDA to challenge INDIA.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi says, “The fight is against BJP and its ideology. This fight is between India and Narendra Modi,” in Bengaluru.
Leaders of 26 Opposition parties also announced that they would hold their next meeting in Mumbai, where the alliance will finalize coordination committee members.
“The date for the meet is not yet decided,” Kharge said.
The alliance, with consensus of all 26 political parties, has been named as ‘INDIA’ or the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance.
The Opposition leaders said that an 11-member coordination committee will be set up to facilitate the alliance’s working, and “members of the committee will be decided in the next meeting”.
“This was our second successful meeting today. The country is our family and we are fighting together to save our family. The next meeting of this alliance will be in Mumbai,” Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said.
